Efficient implementation of user interfaces is an important consideration for designers, manufacturers, and users of electronic devices and systems. To achieve maximum effectiveness, a user interface may advantageously display information to a system user in the user's primary language.
The English language is generally written using an alphabet of twenty-six letters derived from the Romans. Other written languages, however, may employ significantly greater numbers of written characters. An example of a written language that requires a relatively large number of written characters is the Chinese language.
As background information, it is useful to have a broad understanding of languages that are not based on the Roman alphabet. Chinese, for example, has a constrained phonetic structure. In spoken Chinese, there are only 412 basic phonetic units, each unit having a mono-syllabic sound. Four sound patterns can potentially be applied to each phonetic unit, resulting in slightly more than 1,000 distinct sounds. Other languages not based on the Roman alphabet also include a vast number of characters, and may also employ the use of mono-syllabic sounds.
Conventional computer systems and operating systems generally include the use of a two byte digital encoding method to accommodate the large number of characters normally represented in languages that do not use the Roman alphabet. This is in contrast to the languages that use Roman characters, as computer displayable fonts that are associated with these languages may be encoded using only one byte of digital information. The two byte digital encoding method, also known as double-byte encoding, requires substantially greater system memory than the one byte digital encoding method.
The increased memory requirements that double-byte encoding necessitates makes the installation of software supporting these double-byte characters optional. For example, many operating systems make the installation of double-byte encoding/decoding support optional. Therefore, many computer systems today simply do not provide support for displaying documents that include double-byte encoded fonts.
The additional system memory required by double-byte encoding/decoding also places significant burdens on small-sized or portable electronic devices. These small-sized electronic devices typically have very limited system memory. Furthermore, these small-sized or portable electronic devices lack the availability to significantly expand the system memory. Accordingly, a large number of these small-sized or portable electronic devices do not include built in double-byte encoding/decoding software, and many simply cannot handle the increased memory capacity required to handle the double-byte encoding/decoding techniques.
Because many computer systems, including both larger personal computer devices and small-sized electronic devices, do not include software that is capable of handling documents that include double-byte encoded text, users will invariably receive documents with this type of encoding/decoding and will be unable to discern the contents thereof. Therefore, there remains the need to provide a method and apparatus capable of handling media that includes double-byte encoded text even if the required software to actually display the double-byte encoded text is not installed on the displaying computer device.